


even as the eyes are closing (do it with a heart wide open)

by shafferthefirst



Series: princess of the playground [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, grandpa coulson, implied fitzsimmons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-04-24
Packaged: 2018-03-25 14:37:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3814195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shafferthefirst/pseuds/shafferthefirst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy makes a discovery in Coulson's office.</p>
            </blockquote>





	even as the eyes are closing (do it with a heart wide open)

**Author's Note:**

> Just a drabble for Lilly, whom I have turned into coulsonpeggy trash with me.
> 
> Title is from "Say" by John Mayer.

For longer than she had been around, the desk in Coulson's office had a small stack of books and a paper weight in a specific spot. 

It pressed her curiosity for years, that no matter how cluttered or organized the surface could be, or however many times he rearranged things, the stack remained. It was almost that it was strategically placed there to hide something. 

Normally, things like this didn't bother her. The base she'd grown up in was old and full of secrets and hidden spaces, it was just a thing. 

But at the moment, planted on some old files in the director's chair to properly reach her latest project, the brontosaurus she was coloring just wasn't cutting it for the five year old today. She timidly pushed the books aside, just enough to see what looked like....scratches? Why in the world-

"Peg?" 

She froze, expression not unlike last night when her mother had caught her hand in the cookie jar past her bedtime. 

"I didn't mean to."

"Didn't mean to what?" 

She sighed. "'m sorry, Grandpa. I didn't mean to be nosy," she turned her attention back to her discovery, "but what is this?"

He tensed up when he scanned it over, but softened, much like the first time she reached for her grandmother's hand on her own. 

"It's a long story, honey." 

"I like your stories."

He wouldn't meet her eyes but still gave her a kind smile. "I'm afraid you won't like this one." 

"Does it make you sad, Grandpa?"

"Very." He nodded. "It was a really bad time for Grandpa."

"Oh. Sorry." Suddenly finding her coloring page twice as interesting as before, she picked up her crayon and went back to work without another word on the subject.

* * *

 

"I'm gonna go find mummy and daddy," Peggy stated a little while later. Coulson peered up from his tablet as she sped out and noticed her crayons still laying there.

"Whoa there, roadrunner, you forgot your-" his breath hitched at the sight of it; the carvings in his desk from the alien writing from so long ago were carefully filled with bright colors and enclosed in a red heart.

He glanced up, a little misty eyed, to where Peggy stood in the doorway, anxiously awaiting his reaction.

"You always say my drawings make you happy so maybe that will make your sad happy?" she risked.

A huge smile spread across his face. "C'mere, kiddo," he opened his arms and knelt to her level and she flung herself at him knowing he'd never let her fall. Standing up and pulling her closer, he grinned even more as she babbled on about the reasons for the colors she selected.

"Hey, I've come to take my parasite off your hands if-" Jemma chirped as she stepped in, but changed her tone entirely when her eyes landed on the newly decorated desk. " _Margaret Jane Fitz-Simmons_! Sir, I am _so_ sorry, she knows better than that-"

"It's fine. Really," he reassured her, swinging Peggy around on his hip. "It's better to make something pretty out of a bad memory than to forget it for all its worth, right?"

Jemma smiled playfully. "Can't say I've heard that one."

"It's a Phil Coulson original," he nodded. "Be sure to write that down. Make me internet famous. Have people run blogs about me."

"I'll get right on that, sir," she chuckled. "Come on then, my little modern day Picasso, your daddy is finishing up a project and I think you'll be interested..."

"The moon boots??" 

"You are definitely your father's child coming up with names like that," she laughed as Peggy squealed and pressed a quick kiss to Coulson's cheek before scrambling out of his grasp to drag her mother down the hall by the hand.

(If he rearranged his desk to fully display and appreciate the newest edition to his desk, and later had May secure it in place with clear nail polish, no one said a word.)


End file.
